Barry Sullivan, Canada
When You Set Your Mind To It, Nothing Is Impossible
April, 2010 | courtesy of PHA Canada
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“Well, this doesn’t appear to have anything to do with your heart… I suspect you may be in the early stages of pulmonary hypertension.” Those were the words that first brought this condition to my attention: a condition that over the next few months and years would so dominate my life, my thinking and my belief in what could and could not be done.
I had just left the office of a cardiologist, referred to me by my family physician after some abnormalities appeared in my chest x-ray and subsequent EKG after a bout with pneumonia. I wasn’t suffering from any obvious symptoms, other than the occasional shortness of breath, which I attributed to weight gain over the years and to just “getting older.” It was January 2005, and I headed home thinking “hypertension; well this can’t be that bad. Watch what I eat, my salt intake, lose some weight, take a daily pill and all will be good. Just check out this pulmonary thing on the Internet and…” POW! Read more
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Rocio Penagos Herrera, Mexico
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I was born with an interventricular communication, and when I was five years old, I had surgery to fix it. I remember that throughout my childhood and adolescence I was always in a permanent state of tiredness. I could not run or jump like my siblings and friends because I got worn-out very quickly. My parents thought it was due to the heart surgery, and I grew up believing that I was constantly tired for that reason.
It was not until five years ago when, after several misdiagnoses, I was finally diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension. I remember that moment being very sad and difficult for my family and me. We received information about a condition that we had never heard of and did not totally understand, and we were told there was no medicine or treatment that might help me. I felt fear and sadness, and I think my parents felt that way also. None of us expressed these feelings out loud. Read more
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Migdalia Denis, Venezuela
Un Caso Admirable de Lucha por la Vida
Agosto 2008
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La vida de Migdalia encajaba perfectamente en el perfil de una ejecutiva contemporánea exitosa con una rutina de trabajo, viajes frecuentes, estudios de postgrado, atención del hogar y crianza de los hijos, entre otras responsabilidades. Sin embargo, el ritmo de vida acelerado y agotador que llevaba se le hizo repentinamente cuesta arriba. Sin ninguna explicación aparente, comenzó a sentirse fatigada hasta para desempeñar acciones tan sencillas como caminar trechos relativamente cortos, subir escaleras e incluso bañarse.
Luego de deambular por muchos consultorios de especialistas en Venezuela, consultar sus síntomas por Internet y enviar correos electrónicos a especialistas de Estados Unidos, recibió el diagnóstico definitivo: sufría un padecimiento crónico denominado hipertensión pulmonar, una dolencia tan rara que su incidencia en aquel momento era de un individuo por cada millón. Lee la historia completa
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